The latest ROSEANNE "controversy"

Wow. Big flap over a ROSEANNE joke from last week. Roseanne and Dan were in bed at 11 and he mentioned that he slept through the last few hours. “We missed all the shows about black and Asian families,” (meaning of course BLACKISH and FRESH OFF THE BOAT). Roseanne then says: “They’re just like us. You’re all caught up.”

Various industry people and folks on social media are outraged. It’s dismissive, it’s racial, it’s inappropriate, it’s offensive, it’s divisive.

I’m not going to argue the merits of the line either way. I’m just going to say I’m glad I’m not writing network television at the moment. Because if that little throwaway line is enough to spark a huge controversy I don’t know how comedy writers today are supposed to do their jobs.

So to be clear -- I’m not reacting to the line itself; I’m reacting to the reaction. Was the line inappropriate? Maybe. It certainly was to some and I respect that. But was it so inappropriate that it warranted a whole national brouhaha?

I’m trying to imagine myself in a current writers room, now having to walk on eggshells and analyze every line super carefully to make sure I don’t offend anyone even inadvertently. I like to think of myself as a compassionate person and I try to interject humanity into any project I undertake. But I’m also a comedy writer. And characters need to have flaws, there has to be some edge. I never want to be irresponsible, I never want to needlessly hurt another person or collective group. But one-time innocuous lines with no malice intended are now considered irresponsible.

So I’m glad I’m not the one in that writing room at 3:00 AM trying to come up with a killer joke that no one in America will take exception with. Censorship is bad. Self-censorship might just be worse.

NOTE: I am traveling around a lot today so may not get to moderating your comments for a while. But I will get to them and post them.

from By Ken Levine